"Book readers" - Season 8 Episode 2 "A Knight of the 7 Kin" - Spoilers post 2 fo

Is anyone else thinking that Dany could go Mad Queen by the end? I definitely got that feeling in both episodes so far this season, more so in the second.

In the first episode, she was laying down the "Sansa doesn't have to respect me but she will obey me" dictate to Jon in the Winterfell courtyard when they were interrupted. There was also the injection of conflict into Jon and Dany's relationship via Sam and the toasted Tarleys (note to self: decent band name)

In episode 2, by the end, she mentally checked-out of war proceedings once Jon told her about his Targaryen lineage. The NK's army are gathering outside the Winterfell walls, all of our protagonists are taking their starting positions or mustering for the battle, but Dany is just cutting Jon a look and storming off. This reminds me of the question Jon was asked about Dany - Would she give up her crown to save her people? Well given her apparent inability to push her personal quest aside once the Whitewalker shít hits the fan, I would suggest that no, she would not give up her crown to save her people.

She has been fully hellbent and intent on taking the Iron Throne. "Those who crave power should be among the last to obtain it"...something like that the old saying goes. Well for 7 and a bit seasons now, Dany has been craving that power. Meanwhile, we have also seen examples of those craving power and wanting it for their own selfish means rather than the good of the people...like Joffery, Cersei, Littlefinger, Ramsey, Theon, Stannis (f**k it being 'his duty', he still craved it) - these characters have all displayed examples of why they should not have power. Meanwhile, the likes of Jon Snow and Tommen, who had it put upon them and did not crave it, they were honorable characters with good intentions who could have gone on to do well for the people they serve. Poor Tommen was just played like a pawn and not cut out for the game.

There is good in Dany of course, but her motives in Westeros are now questionable for me. Sure, she parked her war with Cersei to go North and fight that battle, but in the latest episode she admitted to Sansa "I'm here because I love your brother"...not because "The North is one of my Seven Kingdoms and I will die to protect it". Well now that "your brother" is a threat to Dany's claim, well he actually obliterates it, it will be interesting to see just how much Dany cares about the people of the North and Westeros.

Fans are rightfully pointing out how many times it was mentioned in this latest episode that 'They'll be safe down in the crypts', and its possible foreshadowing implications. On a longer time-span, it's been commented on many times by the likes of Tyrion and Varys that 'Dany isn't her father...she isn't the Mad King'. Well, is that not foreshadowing similar to 'The crypts are safe' but just on a longer time-span?

There is good in Dany of course and she has morals, but we've seen her ideals and plans fail badly when put to real-world use in the past - In Meereen for instance, she thought she was doing the common people a favour by closing down the barbaric fighting pits. She thought she was doing right by freeing the slaves from their masters. However, she was begged by a slave to let them return to their masters if they wanted to because they actually had a decent life despite Dany's assumptions and ideals. Likewise with the fighting pits - what she thought was the right thing to do for the people turned out to be the opposite. Remember the people of Meereen, her people, ended up hissing at her when she tried to demonstrate her 'fairness' by having one of her aides publicly beheaded for breaking her law? Yes, Dany has morals and a perception of fairness, but such things have been proven misguided or misjudged at various points over the course of her story.

I think Dany's good-natured advisors are what have been keeping her from swaying to that Targaryen darkside. Be it Jorah, Tyrion, Grey Worm, Mellissandei or Varys - they have advised diplomacy or have given her important context she lacked many times when she just wanted to release the dragons or make some kind of fatal statement. So now that Dany sees her claim to the Iron Throne bettered by Jon, and there's the possibility that she might lose some of those good-natured advisors in whatever bloodbath the producers are about to unleash on us in these next episode(s), there might be nothing to stop her from going Mad Queen by the end.

As for end predictions or who might survive the Battle of Winterfell or sit on the Iron Throne, I'm not sure. Whatever happens though, I just don't see Dany and Jon living happily ever after and flying off together on their dragons. There will be conflict IMO. Will Dany go full Mad Queen? Maybe not to the point of needing euthanising, but I wouldn't be surprised or call 'bullshít...where did that come from?' if they do go that way with her.

She's been tinkering on the edge through-out the show now in the name of furthering her own cause - From watching contently as her own brother was scalded to death, to locking Xaro Xhoan Daxos and that girl in the vault until they die, to having the Tarley's roasted to death. There has been some dark, potential Mad Queen shít there for us to see all along.